


Hyrule Festival

by Polyhexian



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: ASL, Christmas, General Fun, Lore Building, M/M, brief mentions of alcohol, brief mentions of death and fears, non established relationship, nonverbal link, pre-Ganon, third person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21896875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian
Summary: The noise level rose as he entered the main platform and finally could see how many people were truly here- every platform along the Domain's winding waterways was full of people, tables, food, musicians- Hylians, Zora, even a scattered Rito or Goron tittering about here and there. Every inch of vertical space was covered in coloured lights and sprigs of plants, silvery bells and ribbons the colour of the Zora's most popular prince. Speaking of the Prince-
Relationships: Link/Prince Sidon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 142





	Hyrule Festival

**Author's Note:**

> AHHHH merry Christmas, and happy holidays yall! It's December 23rd and I am visiting my folks this week, and I wanted to write something fun. Also, there's over 1000 sidlink fics on ao3 now. [Toots kazoo]

Link landed with a tiny splash on the entranceway platform of Zora's Domain, tilting his head curiously at the strings of tiny luminous stones strung across the handrailings and sprigs of colourful plants wrapped in bright ribbons. It was certainly a different look for the abnormally busy Domain, but definitely not unpleasant. 

"Master Link!" Called a familiar voice. Link looked up as Captain Bazz jogged up from his post, a big, sharp smile crossing his face, "I'm so happy you've chosen to spend the Hyrule Festival with us this year!" 

Link tilted his head, curiously. 'What's that?' he signed.

Bazz looked shocked. "Surely that's why you're here, though!"

'No,' Link signed, 'just visiting.'

Bazz slapped his forehead, "I can't believe it! I know you've had amnesia, but surely someone mentioned to you a holiday was coming up!"

Link shook his head again.

"How criminal. My deepest apologies, my friend, I should have told you last time you were here. Hyrule Festival is an ancient traditional holiday. In the old times, the Hylians held a massive festival in Castle Town, and all the leaders of all the races would come for it. It was really something to see," he sighed, looking wistful, "I went once as a child with my father, before the fall. The whole of Castle Town was strung up with lights, and people were dressed as fairies. It was tradition for the Zora to bring a gift for the royal family, but my wires got a little crossed, and I thought I was just supposed to bring a gift myself and bring it to a random Hylian. I gave a silver dipped carp skeleton to a little girl who looked so confused!" He laughed.

'I wish I could have seen it,' Link signed, sighing. He could almost imagine it, but he was sure whatever he imagined looked nothing like reality. He didn't even know what Castle Town looked like. 

"You did see it, if it's any consolation," Bazz corrected, "The knights were all dressed up in their best, and they did some swordsmanship shows. It was quite the thing to see for a pup like me."

Link imagined himself dressed in a royal guardsman's uniform, with an ornamental gold sword, standing in a row with other faceless guardsmen he might have been friends with once, with Hyrule Castle draped in lights, the air filled with music. He wished he remembered it.

"After the fall, though, things seemed so hopeless. Without a Castle Town, without any Hylian royalty to visit… there was nothing to celebrate. Our dear king, however, had a terrific idea! So many Hylians now lived within the territory protected by the Zora, and they were so utterly hopeless… king Dorephan invited anyone within Lanyru and beyond to attend a new Hyrulian Festival in the Domain, to celebrate the survival of the Hylians and the support of their Zora friends. It's changed a lot over the years, but, it's the biggest party of the year, I would think. It's a real treat to have you, the Hylian Champion, here. Uh, rather than at the other ones- the Rito and the Goron host their own Hyrule Festivals in their cities. The Gerudo do, too but they set up a carnival ground outside the city walls so men can attend." 

Link blinked. How much the world had changed in his absence, and how much he had forgotten. Had he missed other holidays and celebrations, chopping wood in the forest, exploring cave systems and solving puzzles in shrines? Was he truly a part of the world he had returned to to save? He felt a sharp pang in his chest, and it must have showed on his face.

"Oh, Master Link, if you don't want to stay, I understand, I will not tell anyone you had come, I promi-" Bazz began, immediately trying to make him feel better. Link waved his hands briskly, brushing away the thought. "Well, I'm glad you've come. My shift here isn't over yet, or I would walk you in, but if you speak to my father, I'm certain he can make arrangements for you to stay somewhere in the palace tonight, since the Inn is full. I hope to see you tonight, at the feast. I know you'll be at the feast," Bazz smiled, teasingly. Link knew he was certainly right; there was no way he would miss a feast.

'I will see you then,' he signed, and then paused, before opening his arms. Bazz brightened and leaned in for a hug. Link wondered when the last time he had hugged someone was. Not since he had awoken, for sure. He wondered if he missed having friends, like Bazz, who knew how much he liked food, and what he had been like before, and was now. 

The noise level rose as he entered the main platform and finally could see how many people were truly here- every platform along the Domain's winding waterways was full of people, tables, food, musicians- Hylians, Zora, even a scattered Rito or Goron tittering about here and there. Every inch of vertical space was covered in coloured lights and sprigs of plants, silvery bells and ribbons the colour of the Zora's most popular prince. Speaking of the Prince-

"Link! Link!" Called the second familiar voice of the night. The Prince himself, dolled up in more red than even his bare scales would have shown. Plush white fur trims and a ring of bells along the waist coat and bobbing at the end of a headtail-length hat.

Link smiled, pointed ear to pointed ear.

"You're here!" Sidon cried, grabbing him around the waist and lifting him up above his head. Several people stopped to stare, he noted. "I can't believe it! You should have told me you meant to attend our festival! I would have prepared a speech in your honor!"

Link blushed, as red as the prince. 'I didn't know, actually, I'm sorry. I would have dressed nicer.' 

"Oh, my friend, you look fine, as always. Though, perhaps we have something in your size to change into, if you'd like."

Link nodded, and Sidon set him down gently on the ground, bells tinkling all the way. 

"Come, you must say hello to my father and let him know you're here so a space can be made at the banquet table beside me. Oh, I'm so delighted to have you here, Link!" He tittered, bursting with excitement.

His hand was enveloped in his Zora friend's, large around him and hiding even his wrist as he led him through the crowd. There were a mighty many Hylians here, and both them and the Zora seemed to recognize him as they passed, waving and calling to him by name. It was a wholly unusual spectacle, but again, not unwelcome.

"Father!" Sidon called upward, and Link refocused his attention, "The Hylian Champion is here to spend the festival with us this evening!" 

"How wonderful," King Dorephan boomed, "Truly, it is an honour to have you, Link."

'Thank you for your hospitality,' Link signed, and Sidon quickly translated. 

"Oh, Muzu, do we have anything for him to wear?" Sidon inquired.

"In a Hylian's size?" Muzu grumbled, "I would think not."

"Oh," said Sidon, deflating a bit, "I'm sorry, Link, I suppose I was wrong."

"I said we don't have anything, not that I wouldn't be able to acquire something," Muzu snorted, and Sidon lot back up like the coloured lights stretched across the ceiling, "I'll find you when I have something. Return to the festival, the Hylians will appreciate having you, I'm sure." Link wasn't sure, but he thought the old codger might just be smiling.

Link didn't need to be told twice, and Sidon spun him back around, leading him back to the glowing lights of the party. 

He knew that at least some people had heard the legendary hero of Hyrule had awoken and set off to restore balance to the land, but he certainly hadn't seen such knowledge until now, with crowds of Hylians calling his name like an old friend. Someone had placed a garland on his head, studded with silent princess flowers, before Koda caught up with him.

"Linny, my dear!" She giggled, "I've just spoken to Muzu, who told me you didn't have an outfit. Come, come with me, I have plenty of things back at the Inn we can fit you with. We sell them around this time to travellers, you know. You can pay me back later."

He lost Sidon in the crowd as he followed her back to the inn, which was still just as packed as everywhere else, but Koda managed to shoot enough people out of the back room that he could size out an outfit. Like Sidon's, it was bright red and trimmed in neat white fur. He opted to keep the garland on, though. Long, pointed caps weren't really his style, after all.

She practically shoved him back outside when he was done and back into the crowd of festival goers. 

"Link!" Called a familiar voice he'd heard once that evening. Bazz pushed through the crowd, holding a wine glass in one hand and wearing one of the fluffy dangly red caps in his head fin, "I knew I'd find you eventually! Don't you look dapper?" 

'Thank you,' Link signed, chuckling, 'I don't think I look very good in red.'

"Ah, perish the thought, you look great," Bazz said, waving his glass dismissively. "Come! The big dance starts soon, and I have a mighty fine suspicion you'll be a popular dance partner.

The look of alarm must have shown on his face, because Bazz snorted, "I assume you don't know how to waltz, then?"

Link shook his head furiously.

"Alright, then," Bazz said, swinging back his drink and finishing it, before plopping it onto a passing waiter's tray, "Then you're lucky I owe you an old favour. First, dance with me and I'll show you the steps, then just keep doing that when the next dancer gets passed to you, yeah?" 

Link gulped. He really hoped this didn't go poorly.

Indeed, they arrived just in time for the start of the dance. Link sort of hoped he could stand to the side like everyone else and just watch, but those hopes were dashed when he was spotted by someone who looked like an organizer, who practically dragged him to the starting line. 

"Ready?" Asked Bazz, bemused.

'No,' Link shook his head.

"Good, cuz here we go," laughed a tipsy off duty guardsman, as they stepped out onto the dance floor. "Okay, hold my hand like this and try to match my steps- good, that's right, now, put your hand on my back, under my arm, and mine goes here, above it, and now we step like this-"

Link's feet felt clumsy as he followed Bazz's steps, wondering if it was obvious he had no idea what he was doing. 

"Usually on a big beat, the other person will spin, but just try to follow their feet and if they dip, catch them, yeah! You got this." Links eyebrows shot up at "catch them," but his hands were busy and before he could try to inquire further, Bazz had spun away, and someone else, a Hylian girl, had spun into his arms. He tried not to look as terrified of her as if she were a fearsome moblin.

"Oh, you're the Champion!" She whispered, surprised, "what a delight to meet you!"

Link nodded enthusiastically, trying not to be obvious he was staring at their feet.

"Ah, don't know how to waltz?" She giggled. He was sure he was blushing. "Don't worry. You've been asleep or something, right? Just tell everyone you used to do it differently, and we're doing it wrong." 

Link snorted in laughter, and then jerked forward to catch her when she dipped backwards.

"See? Good reflexes are all you need. I hope we get to dance again," she said, and he smiled at her, before the next dancer in line moved in.

This time he recognized the face as a Hylian woman from the Hateno general store, Ivee. She batted her eyes at him and fluffed her fancy ball gown. 

"You're quite the dancer," she said, despite the fact he was not, "perhaps we should do this again sometime." 

He was four or five partners in before he started to feel like he wasn't embarrassing himself, and started to have fun. The song was light and festive, with a band playing up on one of the best lit platforms with an array of instruments Link didn't recognize. The dance floor was crowded and filled with dancers, lights strung in curtains around and above him, lighting up the night like day. 

During a spin, he spotted the Prince spinning a dancer half his size across the dancefloor, and realized he was dancing the same part as him, not one of the rotating dancers. Link felt a strange pang of disappointment in his chest, and wondered why. 

The song ended with a flourish and a different dance move Link spectacularly failed to mimic, but no one seemed to mind, at least. 

"You didn't do too bad," Bazz laughed, slapping him on the shoulder. Link stumbled and shrugged with a lopsided smile. "Banquet's gonna start soon. You should figure out where they've got you sat." 

Link nodded and ambled away, looking for Sidon. He had only just seen him, and now he seemed to have disappeared somewhere, despite towering over the rest of the crowd. 

"Link!" Laughed a voice he had been waiting to hear, and a large hand covered his shoulder. Link turned to look into Sido 's wide yellow eyes. 

"I've got a space saved for your at our table! Would you care to join me?"

Link felt his heart twinge and nodded, reaching absently up touch the hand on his shoulder. Sidon took his hand in his own and led him through the crowd and to the banquet table, set up in the throne room, with King Dorephan at its head. To his left, Muzu, and to his right, Sidon. Beside Sidon, Link.

There wasn't very much in life Link knew how to appreciate, but food was certainly one of them. A delicious cooked ham, with sides of scalloped potatoes and roasted asparagus. Bowlfuls of roasted peppers, stuffed with cream cheese and cool salads and crispy seared steak and fish. Link ate and ate, with each bite certain he could eat no more.

What a beautiful night it had been. The best one since he had awoken, for sure. Something new, and wonderful, and unique. Something worth fighting Ganon to protect. 

The Zora presented a gift to the local Hylians, a gift of food and supplies to the local stables, and then they served dessert, and Link managed to make some room for the chocolate coated truffles they served, shaped like little octorocks.

People had begun to leave and resume dancing or cavorting about the party grounds when Link yawned, and Sidon leaned to the side toward him.

"Would you like to gracefully exit the festivities, my friend?" He whispered, amusedly.

Link nodded, and followed Sidon when he stood. It didn't even seem as if anyone was paying attention to him anymore at this late hour in the event. The sound of merriment quietly dulled as they entered the castles interior, surrounded by glimmering stone.

"Thank you," Sidon begun, his voice echoing off the palace hallways, "For coming, and for staying. Did you have fun?"

Link nodded vigorously. He had very much enjoyed himself, partaking in dancing, food, wine (which he may or may not be supposed to, he really wasn't certain how old he was), and he found himself distinctly weary. 

"I saw you at the dance," Sidon commented, chuckling, "You were pretty terrible."

Link snorted, 'I was dancing it the way we used to, before the fall. You all were just doing it wrong.'

"You know I was around then, right? I know how it was danced," Sidon nitpicked, with a wry smile. 

'Hylians dance different than Zora.'

"I'm sure," the prince laughed.

'Can I see your room?' Link inquired, suddenly curious.

"If you'd like," Sidon said, tilting his head with a curious expression, "It's not much to see. It's in the Zora way to be very distinguished and ornamental where things are seen, but then more utilitarian below the surface. I don't spend much time in my quarters, but- ah, it's just over here, you see."

Sidon was certainly correct, that from the outside, the room looked much like every other. There was nothing on it that distinguished it as the room of the prince, rather than anyone else's in the row.

Behind the towering doors, though, it was unlike anything Link had seen outside, though he hadn't been within the palace itself before. The rooms sloped upwards, curved like smooth cave walls, with ornate pillars that disappeared into the ceiling. Around the whole time of the room was a doughnut shaped pool, and the center platform held a massive, Sidon sized waterbed, a bridge stretching from the door to it. A writing desk leaned against the back wall corner, along with a chest of drawers and a case of old books. Link wondered what Sidon likes to read.

'It's beautiful,' Link signed, stepping inside. He heard the bells of Sidon's outfit jingle behind him as he stepped in as well, shutting the door.

"Thank you," he tittered, "I quite like it myself. Your room is down the hall, but, since we're here anyway, I thought perhaps, I might-" Sidon stopped for a moment, at an uncharacteristic loss for words, "Ah, nevermind then. We should get you off to bed."

Link blinked, suddenly intensely curious. 'What is it?'

"Oh, it's surely nothing-" Sidon started, but Link's wide, pleading eyes seemed to stop him short, "Well, if you insist- I know that the gift exchange part of the evening has passed, but, I did have something for you… I didn't expect you to be here tonight, so it wasn't finished yet, but, You may still like it. Just a moment."

Sidon crossed the bridge and then another Link hadn't noticed behind the bed, and Link followed to the back wall, and the chest beside his desk. He knealt down, opening it and pulling out a beautiful, ornately scaled Zora cap, glistening red in the dim luminous stones light.

"You told me last time you were here that you were never able to find the Zora helm my sister made for you, so many years ago, and I thought it… sad, that the set was incomplete. I wanted you to have this. I made it myself."

Sidon held the cap to him, expression oddly tense, as if he was wary of Link's reaction. Link distinctly remembered the significance of Mipha's gift, had he ever received it from her, and wondered if this carried the same weight. Surely he would have said so?

'It's beautiful,' Link signed, taking it from the prince and pulling off his tattered garland, replacing it with the gift. It fit perfectly.

"Thank you," Sidon said, eyes still searching for his reaction. Link had been right- there was more meaning to this than a simple hat.

'Is there something you want to ask me?' Link signed, careful. His thoughts swirled like dark mist, a turmoil of wildly different feelings. 

"I, well…" Prince Sidon stumbled, before he seemed to regain his composure, puffing up again, "Yes, I do. I would like to request your hand in- well, not marriage, but, you hand, to court. I want to court you."

The Prince was his closest, if not only, real friend, someone who's presence brought him peace and comfort. There was no one he would rather be with, but Link was not a fool. He was a short lived Hylian, and not only that, a warrior born from water without memory or a place in the world less than a year ago, likely fated to leave the world as quietly as he entered in soon enough, with or without defeating Ganon. He brought danger with him where he went, and was so deeply filled with fear and grief that he kept carefully hidden behind carapace walls of somber smiles and silent actions. He was not as much a catch as the women he had danced with that night believed him to be.

"Link?" Sidon prompted, gently pulling him from his thoughts. He realized he was gently gripping his tunic above the crater-scar in the center of his chest that had killed this body, once, many, many years ago. He imagined the burnt, turned out flesh and shattered ribs that poked out at strange angles, like an amateur painting. He pulled his hand away.

'I am afraid,' Link admitted, hesitantly. He didn't know why he was saying this, even. He wouldn't have said this to anyone else. 'I am afraid I cannot give what you can. I could die tomorrow. I could fail defeating Ganon. I could lose my memories again, or- just disappear. I am not the fearless hero you think I am.'

"I don't believe you're a fearless hero," Sidon said, immediately. "I have sent fear in you, fighting monsters, defending innocent people, even riding large horses. But you do those things anyway, no matter how they frightened you. Fearing nothing is not an admirable quality, but facing things you dear is brave. You are a brave man, Link."

Link paused, then glanced up at through one of the open windows, to the glimmering stars in the sky and the pale white moon above.

'I will die before you,' Link said, finally, guiltily, 'I would leave you.'

"Mipha believed that, too," Sidon said, gently, and Link finally raised his eyes to meet the beautiful Prince before him, baring his heart, and he was captured in their yellow gaze. "But she was wrong. None of us are guaranteed anything. It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, though, as they say. You are worth the risk, my dearest friend."

Caught in the citrine spell of the Prince's eyes, there was no more resistance left in the Hylian's tiny body. He could not fight his heart anymore than he could fight Ganon, all those years ago. 

'I accept,' He signed, hands shaky, 'I would like to court you.'

"Can I kiss you?" Sidon asked, unblinking. Link answers by leaning in and cupping his face, pressing his warm lips to the Zora's cool scales. The night was crisp, with distant music still in the air and the tinkle of bells on their outfits, the threat of death far off. Link could get used to this.


End file.
